LAS VEGAS – Following an 81-second title loss in Saturday’s UFC 160 main event, Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva feels he got a bum deal and believes referees such as Mario Yamasaki should be penalized.

However, UFC President Dana White – usually one of the first people to sharply criticize MMA officials – isn’t buying it.

After earning a rematch with heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez, Silva dropped to the canvas from a short right and then ate a series of follow-up punches in Saturday’s scheduled five-rounder. Yamasaki then waved off the pay-per-view headliner, which took place at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

Silva, though, maintains the follow-up punches, which kept him grounded and unable to return to his feet, were illegal.

“I don’t want to say too much,” the former EliteXC champion said after the fight. “I’d rather you each just watch the fight playback. It’s clear watching it that I took several illegal blows to the back of my neck. The referee explained to me (before the fight) that the first illegal blow is a warning that should be issued and the second should be penalized on points. But in watching the playback, you can see I took several illegal blows to the back of my neck.”

Silva, who also suffered a first-round knockout loss to Velasquez (who would go on to reclaim the title from Junios dos Santos) a year ago, believes the supposed gaffe is reason to penalize Yamasaki.

White, though, said Silva only has himself to blame for the stoppage.

“When you turtle and put your hands over your ears and crouch like that and don’t intelligently defend yourself after you’ve just gotten knocked silly, that fight is getting stopped,” he said. “They know that. They know that going into that fight. Only he knows how hurt he was, but to the rest of the word … doesn’t.”

Silva, who earned the title shot after wins over Travis Browne and Alistair Overeem, won’t get a third shot at Velasquez any time soon. Instead, the champ is expected to fight dos Santos in a rubber matchup.

In the meantime, Silva just wants to work his way back up. He also said he doesn’t want to take away from the champ’s victory.

“Cain Velasquez is a tremendous athlete, and I don’t want my grievance on the illegal blows issue to take away from his tremendous athleticism,” he said. “I’m looking forward to my next big opportunity in the UFC, and I hope I can do a great fight for you guys in the future.”

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